{"73243":{"#nid":"73243","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Tech Accelerates Drug Discovery with Supercomputer","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIBM and the Georgia Institute of Technology today announced that one of the world\u0027s most powerful supercomputing clusters will anchor Georgia Tech\u0027s new Center for the Study of Systems Biology.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Center will use IBM technologies to advance research into new drugs for the treatment of some of today\u0027s most life-threatening diseases, including cancer. The Center\u0027s research will be headed by one of the world\u0027s leading systems biologists, Dr. Jeffrey Skolnick, the Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Computational Systems Biology.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EFunded by $8.5 million in grants from the State of Georgia, the Georgia Research Alliance and the National Institutes of Health, the new Center for the Study of Systems Biology merges Dr.Skolnick\u0027s biomedical research expertise with IBM\u0027s high-performance computing capabilities to create a brand new supercomputer. The new supercomputing cluster running Linux will be among the fastest in the world, and one of the most powerful among research universities in the Southeastern United States. The cluster is hosted by BellSouth\u0027s world-class facilities in Midtown Atlanta.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022By using IBM technology for our research, we can significantly shorten the time to market for new drugs,\u0022 said Dr. Skolnick. \u0022Systems biology integrates mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology with advanced, high performance computing and engineering. Bioinformatics and systems biology allow us to utilize the vast information growing out of the sequencing of the human genome, enabling drug developers to reduce the number of compounds they must screen by a factor of 10.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe 1000-node Cluster 1350 system built on IBM BladeCenter\u00c2\u00ae systems and powered by dual-core AMD Opteron\u00c2\u00ae processors is capable of performing more than 8.5 trillion calculations per second, which would place it as the world\u0027s 41st most powerful supercomputer based upon the November 2005 TOP500 list (\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.top500.org\u0022 title=\u0022www.top500.org\u0022\u003Ewww.top500.org\u003C\/a\u003E) of supercomputers. The system performance and scalability will offer students and faculty the ability to quickly and accurately analyze complex DNA and proteins to determine the biological and chemical processes of human cancer genes and proteins, to aid in the development of more targeted drugs to treat such diseases.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Universities today are looking for the fastest, most innovative and cost-efficient systems to help their intellectual communities translate the research they generate into viable information for the commercial market,\u0022 said Doug Balog, vice president, IBM BladeCenter. \u0022With the Cluster 1350 system based on the AMD Opteron LS20 IBM BladeCenter, students and faculty of Georgia Tech are gaining the processing power and system resources they need to make more accurate decisions in research and raise the profile of the Institute among the nation\u0027s most elite research facilities.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Only the most technologically savvy universities are able to compete in the field of drug discovery and bioinformatics,\u0022 said Mike Cassidy, president and CEO of the Georgia Research\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAlliance. \u0022Georgia Tech\u0027s focus on top-of-the-line technology and research facilities and the attraction of Dr. Jeff Skolnick and other world-class scholars will raise its presence in this competitive market and attract some of the nation\u0027s brightest students to join our research team to advance medicines that will improve the well-being of people everywhere.\u0022  \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBellSouth worked closely with Georgia Tech and IBM to design a unique, reliable hosting environment to support the high power density supercomputing cluster.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022With our hosting background, we had the flexibility and experience to quickly create a one-of-a-kind solution that could support Georgia Tech, IBM and the supercomputing cluster that will power the groundbreaking research of Dr. Skolnick,\u0022 said Bill Smith, BellSouth\u0027s Chief Technology Officer.   \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe new supercomputer, capable of a peak performance of more than 16 TeraFlops, consists of a cluster of 1,000 AMD Opteron processor-based LS20 nodes for IBM BladeCenter systems (total of 4,000 core processors) running Red Hat Linux 4 on the infrastructure nodes and Scientific Linux on the compute nodes. The supercomputer forms the basis of the IBM Cluster 1350, a pre-packaged and tested super-cluster that is ultra-dense and easy to manage. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022AMD64 technology delivers the processing power needed to run some of the most demanding supercomputers, without sacrificing performance-per-watt efficiencies,\u0022 said Kevin Knox, vice president, Worldwide Commercial Business, AMD. \u0022By working closely with IBM on their AMD Opteron processor-based BladeCenter cluster, we feel confident that researchers at Georgia Tech will be better equipped to execute against demanding timelines and ultimately help bring critical drugs and research to market even faster.\u0022 \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe technology from IBM also includes 28 terabytes of IBM DS4800 storage and 20 terabytes of IBM DS4100 storage to house the large volumes of research data and provide a disaster recovery backup. Force10 TeraScale E-Series family of switch\/routers are also integrated into the IBM BladeCenter cluster to provide resilient interconnectivity enabling predictable cluster performance and scalability that will allow Georgia Tech to seamlessly expand its cluster.  \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Network resiliency is key to ensuring computing cycles are not interrupted and that researchers gain the reliable computing power they need to efficiently analyze massive amounts of data,\u0022 said Marc Randall, president and CEO at Force10 Networks.  \u0022IBM has taken its leading server technology and combined it with our leading switch\/router in a single high performance cluster solution to provide organizations like the Center for the Study of Systems Biology with the computing power they require to for advanced scientific research.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAlso included with the solution is IBM Rear Door Heat eXchanger (code named \u0022Cool Blue,\u0022) a technology component that can use the existing chilled water supply for air conditioning systems already located in the majority of customer datacenters to reduce server heat emissions into the room by up to 55 percent. Georgia Tech has deployed \u0022Cool Blue\u0022 on 12 racks, reducing noise and easing the burden on existing air conditioning units. The Rear Door Heat eXchanger can reduce first-time installation costs by as much as 40 percent while lowering energy costs by almost 15 percent.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe cluster solution helps increase the overall performance of the Center\u0027s datacenter while lowering its total cost of ownership. The speed and flexibility of the systems also reduce the time it takes to complete research projects, allowing the Center more time to explore new commercial opportunities in the fields of pharmaceutical science and healthcare. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAbout BellSouth Corporation\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nBellSouth Corporation is a Fortune 100 communications company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. BellSouth has joint control and 40 percent ownership of Cingular Wireless, the nation\u0027s largest wireless voice and data provider with 54.1 million customers. More information about BellSouth can be found at \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.bellsouth.com\/\u0022 title=\u0022http:\/\/www.bellsouth.com\/\u0022\u003Ehttp:\/\/www.bellsouth.com\/\u003C\/a\u003E. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAbout the Georgia Research Alliance\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nA model public-private partnership between Georgia universities, business and state government, the Georgia Research Alliance helps build Georgia\u0027s technology-rich economy in three major ways: through attracting Eminent Scholars to Georgia\u0027s research universities; through improving laboratories and equipment at these research universities; and through converting research into products, services and jobs that drive the economy. To learn more about GRA, visit \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gra.org\u0022 title=\u0022www.gra.org\u0022\u003Ewww.gra.org\u003C\/a\u003E. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAbout Force10 Networks\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nForce10 Networks is the pioneer in high performance switching and routing.  Based on a revolutionary system architecture that delivers best-in-class resiliency and massive scalability, Force10\u0027s TeraScale E-Series switch\/routers ensure predictable application performance, increase network availability, and reduce operating costs.  Today, many of the world\u0027s largest Gigabit Ethernet and 10 Gigabit Ethernet networks depend on Force10 Networks.  For additional information, please visit the company\u0027s website at \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.force10networks.com\u0022 title=\u0022www.force10networks.com\u0022\u003Ewww.force10networks.com\u003C\/a\u003E.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAbout IBM\u003C\/strong\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIBM is the world\u0027s largest information technology company, with 80 years of leadership in helping businesses innovate. Drawing on resources from across IBM and key Business Partners, IBM offers a wide range of services, solutions and technologies that enable customers, large and small, to take full advantage of the new era of e-business. For more information about IBM, visit \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.ibm.com\u0022 title=\u0022www.ibm.com\u0022\u003Ewww.ibm.com\u003C\/a\u003E.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIBM and BladeCenter are trademarks of the International Business Machines Corporation in the United States and\/or other countries.  For a complete list of IBM Trademarks, see \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.ibm.com\/legal\/copytrade.shtml\u0022 title=\u0022www.ibm.com\/legal\/copytrade.shtml\u0022\u003Ewww.ibm.com\/legal\/copytrade.shtml\u003C\/a\u003E.\n\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"IBM and the Georgia Institute of Technology today announced that one of the world\u0027s most powerful supercomputing clusters will anchor Georgia Tech\u0027s new Center for the Study of Systems Biology.","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"IBM cluster to fuel research in systems biology"}],"uid":"27310","created_gmt":"2006-02-08 01:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:02:23","author":"David Terraso","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2006-02-08T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2006-02-08T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"73244":{"id":"73244","type":"image","title":"Jeffrey Skolnick","body":null,"created":"1449177990","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:26:30","changed":"1475894673","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:44:33"}},"media_ids":["73244"],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGeorgia Tech Media Relations\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ELaura Diamond\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:laura.diamond@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Elaura.diamond@comm.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-894-6016\u003Cbr \/\u003EJason Maderer\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:maderer@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Emaderer@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-660-2926\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["david.terraso@comm.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}